Game device



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' GAME DEVICE N. LITTELL ET AL 2,087,575

Filed Jan. 11, 1934 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 H [I W u/M ison Zz'ffell PatentedJuly 20, 1 931 GAME DEVICE Nelson Littell, New Canaan,

com, and William Wenecek, New York, N. Y.; said Wenecek assignor to saidLittell Application January 11; 1934, SerialNor706,184

' 16 Claims (01. 213-29) This invention relates to a new and usefulimprovement in a game of skill or amusement device for the solo playingof ping-pong, tennis and the like games requiring a ball to be bouncedon a suitable table or court before being returned by the player. a

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide a game ofskill consisting of a suitable ball projecting apparatus mounted withrespect to a playing court such playing surface to serve a succession ofballs in sufficiently rapid order and at such different positions in theplaying court that a player, by himing the game as though opposite askilled player.

Another object of the invention is to provide a game of skill foramusement parks or for the home-which includes a ball projecting devicehaving a hopper for a'plurality of balls which will 20 project them atvariable rates of speed and at variable positions onto a court or table,from which they will bounce to the player who in returning them to thereturn court may determine his score or relative skill by suitablescoring mechanism of a type to give the score according to the form ofscoring of the particular game. 7

An incidental object of the invention is to arrange the courts andscoring device so that when the projected ball is returned in a propermanner equivalent to a score, it may be replaced. in the ball projectingdevice hopper for replay, whereas a ball which has not been properlyreturned will be temporarily out of the playing 35 circuit.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel ball projectingdevice operable on light weight balls such as table tennis or tennisballs, which will receive the balls, one at a time from a suitablehopper, and will discharge the balls, the rate of delivery and the speedof delivery and the point of delivery being irregularly variable so thatit will be difiicult to exactly determine the delivery point of the nextball.

Prior games and amusement devices of this general nature have been knownin which baseballs are mechanically projected toward a batsman in thecage with the expectation that the batsman will strike the ball while itis in the air in much the manner in a baseball game. These priorbaseball batting devices are not satisfactory for the large part of. thepublic as women and children cannot successfully use the bat for thereturn of a ball projected'in this manner and the danger as a table orother" self, can obtain the experience and thrill of play-,

in which the ball is struck of being struck by one of these swiftlyprojected (solid) balls flying through the air is very substantial,especially for a'timid person in the batsmans cage. These devices arealso entirely unsatisfactory for other games requiring a delivery tovariable locations or using a light ball such as ping-pong or tennisball etc., and have never proven popular.

Our invention is to be distinguished from these prior baseball practicedevices in that according to this invention the ball which is projectedfrom the projecting machine first strikes upon the court or upon a tableor target and is returned by the player on its bound or bounce.

' Although the player will use a racquet, or other striking mediumor'even hishand, the ball is of light weight and of the bouncing typeand as it is always bounced prior to being struck the speed of the ballis retarded and the game is made safer and of a more universal appeal tomen, women and children, who are accustomed to playing table tennis,tennis, badminton and similar games. a

It will be understood that the invention may take various forms but ingeneral it is the ob- .ject of the invention to provide a game oramusement device in which a'bouncing ball is projected so as to bouncein front of the player and is then returned by the player into a givenfield of play at the opposite side of the court or table which may ormay not have an intervening net. If the ball is properly returned, itmay be reconveyed to the projecting device for subsequent projectiontoward the player again or it may operate a scoring device which maytake various forms and if it is not properly returned, it is lost forthat particular period of play.

The projection device is preferably provided with a magazine of balls sothat the player will not have to await the return of any particularball, but once the game is started, he will be continuously suppliedwith balls served to different points in front of him until the periodof play is ended or the original supply of balls has been exhaustedthrough loss of the balls due to poor returns. Although the game may beplayed without reference to a charge and the apparatus as to delivery isthe same whether controlled by a coin or operator, it isto be understoodthat the game apparatus is adapted for :in-.

stallation in amusement parks and to be so controlled that the playerwill pay a nominal fee for his period of use.

To more realistically approach playing condi-; tions the serve ispreferably by avariable speed:

device and the speed of delivery as well as the angle of delivery maythus be controlled for the conditions of play. The device is thusadaptable to desired playing conditions making it possible to vary thespeed for women as well as men to play.

Other objects and advantages or the invention will appear from thefollowing description of preferredforms of embodiment thereof taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a tennis court with the projectingmachine in position, the return channel with parts in section, beingshown also,

Figure 2 is a plan view of a tennis court type of arrangement of ouramusement device with one form of ball projection device in place,

Figure 3 is a reduced scale vertical section taken substantially on theline 3-3 of Figure 2 showing the channels for gravity return of theballs to the projection device,

Figure 4 is a larger scale side elevation with parts broken away of theprojection device and mounting shown in Figures 1 and 2,

Figure 5 is a larger scale vertical section through the top only of oneembodiment of projection device and taken along the line 55 of Figure 4,looking toward the rear,

Figure 6 is a substantially central, vertical section through theprojecting mechanism of Figures 4 and 5,

Figures '7 and 8 are respectively top plan and side elevation detailviews of the star wheel clutch mechanism in the projecting device ofFigure 4,

Figures 9 and 10 are respectively end elevation and side elevations ofthe spring arm retarder in the projecting device of Figure 4,

Figures Hand 12 are side elevation and plan views of a furtherembodiment of the invention in which the ball is bounced onto a tableand is returned to the return court having a form of counting platformwhich automatically computes the score, 3

Figure 13 is an end elevation with parts in section of the projectingdevice and one type of score board which may be used in the embodimentof the invention shown in Figures 11 and 12,

Figure 14 is an enlarged perspective view, partly in section of thecounting platform shown in Figure 12,

Figure 15 is a vertical section and Figure 16 is a vertical sectiontaken substantially at right angles thereto on the line l6--l6 of Figure15, showing the counting members and actuating mechanism,

Figure 17 is a plan view of a modified court and table for playing tabletennis or similar games illustrating the use of a different type ofscoring mechanism,

Figures 18 and 19 are vertical sections and front elevational views ofthe pocket type of scoring mechanism,

Figure 20 is a diagrammatic view of a relay for the counting mechanismshown in Figure 18,

Figure 21 is a vertical section through a modifled form of projectingdevice and elevator mechanism and,

Figure 22is a top plan view, partly broken away, taken substantially onthe line 2222 of Figure-21,

While the game or amusement device of our invention may be embodied invarious forms it consists generally of a court, table or playing surfaceindicated at III which may be marked out in suitable boundary lines I2to resemble a tennis court for example, a projecting device or gun lladapted to project balls into the playing court as desired, and ascoring or return area l6 which may be behind a net or dividing element18 which divides the players zone H from the return zone IS.

The court In is also preferably provided with a slope to return theballs to a collection point and may be provided with channels liia asshown in Figure 3, so that the balls 8 will roll by gravity to a sump orreceptacle lob from which they may be automatically returned by theelevator [5 to the feed hopper Ila of the projecting device.

The projecting device M which will be hereinafter described is adaptedto discharge balls 8, such as table tennis or tennis balls at a suitableangle downward as represented by the dotted line I! to the players zoneI I from which it will bounce to the player holding a racquet or returndevice 19 who will return the ball to the scoring zone l6. By suitablemeans as hereinafter described, the score of the shot and the accuracyof the player may be registered. The balls may be discharged at anydesired rate, preferably as rapidly as the skill of the average playerwill permit him to handle the same, and may be discharged with regulatedspeed to deliver a fast or slow ball as desired. The game may also bekept up as long as the operator desires, although a limited number ofballs may be placed in the hopper for use in amusement parks, etc., thesupply being replenished on payment of the desired fee. Automatic meansmay serve to return the balls to a suitable overhead hopper from which agroup of say twenty-five or fifty balls may be released into the machinehopper by a coin control mechanism on payment of the established fee.

One form of gun or projecting device I4 is illustrated in Figures 4 to10 inclusive, although it will be understood that other forms may beused. Such a device includes a hopper Ma which preferably opens into areduced neck portion 14b which is of the size of a single ball 8 so thatthe balls will pass into the machine one at a time. Within the machineis a discharging arm of catapult, centrifugal or compressed air type andin the particular type shown, consisting of a cup or ball receivingpocket 20 carried on the end of an arm 2| which moves about a centralshaft 22, the control spring 23 also being wound on a housing 23!;mounted on the shaft 22. Preferably the ball discharging arm 2| is acontinuation of the spring 23, the other end of the spring being securedin the adjustable member 24 as shown in Figure 6, whereby the device maybe adjusted to deliver a slow or fast ball.

The shaft 22 is driven through suitable gearing 26 from a continuouslyrotating motor 21 and keyed to the shaft is the discharge arm tensioningmember 28 including the collar 28a and the star wheel 30. Theconstruction of this head is more particularly shown in Figure 7, andconsists of a multi-toothed member centrally pivoted at 3| to the member28 through the flange 32. The arm tensioning member 28 also carries aspring pressed during the rotation of the gearing by the operation of.le motor 21, the arm engaging head rotates contacting with thedischarge arm 2| to carry the catapult cup 20 into its rearward positionas shown in dotted lines of position A in Figure 6.

During this travel, however, the releasing pin 36 comes into contactwith a releasing cam 38 fixedly mounted onthe casing of the dischargingdevice so that the releasing pin is forced against tension of the spring39 to withdraw the detent 33 from the star wheel 30 and permit its freerotation. This free rotation releases the discharge arm 2| and thecatapult cup 20 moves suddenly forward due to the tension built up inthe spring 23 to hurl the ball deposited in the cup 20 from theprojection device.

The lever 28 continues to rotate due to the drive of the motor and thewheel 30 will normally tend to move to a new position after which thespring detent 33 will move into a new aperture 34 to hold the headfixed. Suitable deflecting springs 40 may be used, with which the wheelcomes in contact in its continuous rotation, which springs willpositively move the head a sufiicient amount to such a position that thedetent 33 will lock it so that one of the teeth 31 will on the nextrotation engage the projection arm 2| to again carry the arm rearward tothe dotted line position A. of Figure 6, where it is again released toproject another ball from the device, and so on for each rotation.

The anchor 24 to which the fixed end of the spring is secured is mountedin a suitable adjusting slot in the casing and held by a wing nut 42 inany desired position. By relatively adjusting this end of the springthus moving it in an are about the shaft 22 the relative tension of thespring 23 may be increased or decreased when wound. The tension of thespring determines the velocity of the ball and in some cases may effectits direction in view of the rapidity with which the trigger oractuating head releases.

It has been found that the catapult arm' 2| near the end of its forwardstroke is moving very fast and if brought to too quick a stop wouldbecome bent and out of position. A speed retarder device is thereforeapplied to the operating spring housing 31. It preferably consists of anarm 45 of curved shape, having a flange 46 projecting into the path ofthe catapult arm 2| but near the ball discharge end of its stroke. Thearm 45 is more clearly shown in Figure 9 and includes a slotted portion48 for the operating movement of the spring arm 2|, and an aperture 49in the end receives one end of the retarder spring 50, the other end ofwhich is fixedly secured in a collar 5| non-rotatably secured to thehousing 41, surrounding the spring 23. The spring 50 is so wound thatthe flange 46 on the arm 45 is in tensioned position when engaged'by thecatapult arm 2| and yet will move forward slightly during the slowingdown of the catapult arm; The housing 41 is held against rotation by thefixed end of the spring 23 which projects through the housing 41 and bythe counterspring 52 which is fixed to the anchor 24 held by the frame;This tends to hold the flange 46 sufliciently far forward to preventpremature cutting off of the discharge stroke. The spring 50, tends toquickly reduce the forward movement of the catapult arm and preventsdamage to the catapult arm as well as to quickly discharge the ballcarried by it.

The balls carried in the neck |4b of the hopper drop down to a cupshaped valve 55 controlled by a gate 56 in the path of the catapult cup20.

As the gate is moved downward by the rearward movement of the cup, thevalve 55 releases the ball 8 which drops freely into the cup.

Soon after the ball is deposited in the cup 20 the pin 36 engages thecam 38 to release the detent 33 and free the star wheel 30, whichreleases the catapult arm 2| and the energy stored in the spring 23 bythe reverse movement, catapults the cup 20 forward to throw the ballfrom the machine. The time of movement of the ball from the valve to theposition at which it is picked up by the cup is equivalent to themovement of the cup to the pick-up position and the sudden change ofdirection of the ball causes it to stay within the cup until it isfinally discharged in the discharge position of the catapult. v

The rate that the balls are discharged from the machine depends on therate of rotation of the shaft 22 which controls the tensioning member28. The speed of the motor 21 may be varied by any well known means orthe gears may be changed for different speed reductions. For effectiveresults, however, a discharge of approximately fifty balls per minute isquite satisfactory and in most cases offers considerable exercise forthe player.

As previously stated, the velocity of the balls is varied by the tensionof the spring 23 varied by movement of the anchor 24.

The positioning of the balls with respect to the point at which theybounce may be controlled by suitable adjustments 51 and 58 which cancon-- trol the elevation of the discharge head l4 as well as control theangle in horizontal plane or azimuth angle. It is found that the normalvariatiOn in delivery is such to make the game of considerable interestand to require some skill for returning the balls.

It its also'possible to mechanically oscillate the head I if that isfound desirable. One form of apparatus for this purpose includes a beltdriven shaft I40 operated by the belt |4| from the driving shaft 59 andto the end of which is a series of gears and eccentric I42. A link I43is pivoted to the eccentric and in turn is secured to a lever |44clamped to the head extension I45. As the motor operates the shaft 59,it will be seen that the head will oscillate as desired. Othermechanisms may be substituted for the same purpose.

Although in Figures 4 to 10 the elevating mechanism is not shown, it isto be understood that suitable elevating mechanism may be provided forthe continuous filling of the hopper |4a from any-suitable sump orreceptacle from which the balls are returned. This elevator mechanism isgenerally shown at l5 in Figure 1.

While no counting mechanism of a separate nature has been shown withthis embodiment, itis of course possible to use any of the hereinafterdescribed forms or any other desired form'. of counting or scoringmechanism. Primarily, however, the layout of Figures 1 to 3 is fortennis, it being understood that the player may observe his returns andscore them mentally or merely return the ball for desired training. Thedischarge device is equally as suitable for other games however, as willhereinafter be described.

' In the present invention, the machine has been mounted in the returncourt and is carried by a desired standard for rigidity. It will beseen, however, that the machine may be made sufficiently light that itcan be mounted on a table and it can also be in the center of the tableor court. This may also be found desirable by some for trainingpurposes.

A further modified form of court construction is shown in Figures 11 and12 in which a table 60 is used and the projecting machine or gun l4discharges the balls 8 in such a direction that they will bounce on thetable before being returned by the player. The player will drive theballs to the scoring portion of the court by which his skill may betested.

The scoring in this form of the game is done by suitable plates 62mounted in the court floor l0 and having different values depending onthe relative location and amount of skill required to place the returnshots on them. This scoring mechanism, which operates the tell-tale 65at the top of the court, is more clearly shown in Figures 13, 14, 15 and16.

In one particular form of construction 'the plates 62 may be providedwith contacts 63 which operate on a second contact mechanism 64connected in the electric circuit 66. A magnet 61 in the circuit 66 isenergized by the closing of the contacts 63 and 64 when a ball strikesthe plate 62, and this will draw the armature 68 down to release one ofa series of number plates or flags 69 which carries an appropriatenumber. The first flag may have a zero reading, the subsequent flagshaving readings such as 50, 100, 150,

etc.

A separate series of indicators (not shown) may be connected into theother plates 64 and similarly operate flags having multiples of 1000which being separately indicated on the score board 65 will show thetotal score obtained 'by repeatedly driving balls onto the plates in theparticular locations in the court. In such a construction it is possibleto not only practice accurate placement of the return shots but it alsomakes the game interesting in having a score developed during the play.To increase the difficulty of the play the court may have such blankspots as is found desirable, thus limiting the gross score.

The plates 64 may be replaced by a fine wire mesh slightly raised abovesuitable contact points or any other electrical device may be used to indicate'the contact of the ball returned to the appropriate spot. Thetennis ball or even the pingpong ball may be used in such a game as thereturn force is quite substantial.

This type of scoring depends on contact and is one of the satisfactoryways of determining a score. It may be used with the previous courtconstruction although in amusement parks the tables may be founddesirable to give a suitable angle of play and to permit the players totry their skill without moving onto a special court.

In certain games such as table tennis, a longer and narrower table maybe found desirable with a modification of the target due to thelightness of the ball. In Figures 17, 18, 19 and 20, we have thereforeshown a modified layout of court and target in which the court I0 isprovided with a table 10 resembling a table tennis table and having asuitable net 12. The projecting device or gun 13 is located in the rearof the court and may be braced by suitable braces 14 to the end of thetable. The target and scoring device 15 is preferably mounted near theend of the table and as shown in Figure 18 at a level with the table.

The target may preferably consist of a series of indicators 16 behindwhich are a plurality of lights 11 which are energized bycertainelectrical circuits placed in operation by gates 18 behind theball receiving pockets 19. These pockets line the scoring deviceimmediately above the table and may have deflecting wire screens 86which will cause the ball entering one of the pockets 19 to drop ontothe gate 18 and complete an electrical circuit with the contacts 82 asshown in Figure 20. The circuit may include the relay 83 which in turncontrols the appropriate lights 11 to illuminate the figures 16. Therelay may be reset by any desired means. 7

The pockets are relatively small in size and their different locationswill have different values as desired. The arrangement of such an indicator is such that the balls striking near the end of the table and withlittle bounce enter pockets of the highest value and balls bounced nearthe net 12 will either not enter a pocket at all or will enter a higherpocket with a lower value. This may be arranged to closely simulate theskill in placement of returns in ping-pong or any other desired game.

After the balls pass the switch mechanism, they may pass through thechannel 85 to be counted by any desired mechanism and returned to thehopper of the machine. Such counting will also tend to evaluate theskill of the player.

A modified form of projecting device is shown in Figures 21 and 22. Thisform uses a racquet rather than a catapult and may be arranged to give aslight twist or curve to the ball. It is adapted to be mounted in acourt as in the previous constructions and will bounce the ball in theplaying court. The present construction is more particularly arrangedfor a game such as tennis.

In detail, the ball discharging device includes a hopper to which theballs 8 are automatically fed by the elevator mechanism 9| including theendless chain 92 having the pockets 93 engaging the balls in the returnchannel 94 and delivering them down the inclined bottom 95 of the hopperto the restricted throat 96 through which the balls must pass one at atime. This hopper is also provided with a cover 91 through whichadditional balls may be placed or removed. The elevator mechanism may bedriven by any desired means such as through the shaft 128 connected tothe motor H2.

In the bottom of the restricted throat is a slide 98 having a shelf 99so spaced from the slide that as the slide 98 is moved to uncover theopening I00 to allow a ball to drop out, the shelf 99 contacts with thenext ball to prevent it from dropping; thus but one ball is dropped at atime from the hopper and only when the slide 98 is moved in timedrelation with the racquet H5. The spring l0! prevents accidentalmovement of the slide.

The projecting device proper includes a stanchion I I0 mounted on asuitable base I I l and including a motor H2 which may operate through aclutch mechanism H3 and spring H4 to rotate the racquet H5 after thespring has been appropriately wound and .the. trigger H8 is released.This gives the bat an impulse type of drive so that it will move onlyafter the spring has accumulated sufiicient energy to give a swift blowtothe balls which drop into its path.

The trigger H8 is released by the lever H9 which is positioned in thepath of the collar H3. During the rotation of the motor shaft H1 theracquet is restrained from rotating by the pin H8 which causes thespring I M to wind, thus drawing the collar upward and at the propermoment, the lever H9 is forced upward to draw the restraining pin H8 outof position. The

racquet is then free to rotate. This construction is well known in theart and permits any desired tensioning on the spring before the racquetis released.

When the racquet commences its rotation it will engage a trigger I20 inthe path which operates through a clutch IZI to rotate the shaft I22 onwhich is mounted an arm I23 operating in turn a link I24 operativelyconnected to the slide 98. As the racquet rotates, therefore, the slide'98 is pulled into the releasing position and a ball will drop throughthe throat into the path of the bat.

' The clutch release lever I26 may be operated by a suitable cord I2I torelease the clutch I2I so that the racquet may continuously rotatewithout moving the slide 98 so that the motor may be left runningwithout discharge of further balls.

While we have described various forms of embodiment of our invention, itwill be understood that other forms of embodiment may be used andmodifications made in the forms herein described without departingfrom.the spirit of our invention or the scope of our claims which areintended to cover the arrangement of a projecting device adapted tobounce a ball toward the player and a scoring indicating means toindicate the player's score no matter what form these devices areembodied in.

The racquet H is mounted in the post I30 at the top of the drive shaftIII by a suitable adjusting nut I3I so that the racquet may be partiallyrotated for adjustability and for slightly different directional aim ofthe balls out of the discharge throat I32. This will permit thedischarge of the balls to different positions on the court and will addto the complexity of the game. Furthermore, the racquet may beconstructed of different well known materials which in striking theball, will give the twist or curve to the ball which is characteristicof good players,

While we have shown a preferred form of embodiment of our invention, weare aware that other modifications may be made thereto and we thereforedesire a broad interpretation of our invention within the scope andspirit of the disclosure herein and of the claims appended hereinafter.

We claim 1. An apparatus for projecting balls in an amusement devicewhich comprises -a hopper, means to release one ball at a time from saidhopper, and a catapult including a spring arm, means to energize saidarm and a ball receiving cup, said ball releasing means being releasableduring the catapult spring energizing movement to drop a ball into thecup, and trigger means to release the catapult after a ball has beendropped to the cup whereby balls are thrown from the apparatus inpredeterminable paths.

2. A ball projecting device for projecting balls in connection with anamusement apparatus which comprises a ball supply chamber, a dischargingelement, a valve to drop balls one at a time from said chamber to saiddischarging element, means actuated by contact of the dischargingelement to operate said valve, means to energize the dischargingelement, means to release the discharging element when energized, meansto regulate the extent of energization of the discharging element andmeans to again energize the discharging element after discharge, saidenergizing means being variable to control the velocity and the rate ofdischarge of the balls.

3. In an apparatus of the class described the combination of a gamecourt having ball return channels thereon, an indicating means, and aball projecting device cooperating with said court, said court beingdivided into a playing zone and a return zone, said ball projectingdevice including means to project balls into the playing zone of saidcourt and to bounce balls adjacent the player, and said indicating meansincluding means to record the return position of the balls when returnedby the player to a point at the return zone of the court and a pluralityof electrical devices operated by the returned balls, and means toreplenish the ball discharging device from the ball return channels.

4. In combination with a' game court, a ball projecting device for soloplaying of table tennis, tennis and the like, in which the ball isbounced upon the court before return by a player, a scoring mechanismincluding a plurality of switch members adjacent respective points inthe return court and responsive to contact by returned balls, and aplurality of indicators controlled by respective switch mechanisms, saidindicators having different values whereby proper returns of balls bythe player will energize difierent value indicators simulating desiredplaying conditions for the respective games.

5. An apparatus for solo playing of. games such as table tennis, tennisand the like, which comprises a playing platform for the particulargame, a ball projecting device mounted adjacent one end of the platform,simulating one player, a net dividing the platform into a playing zoneand a return zone, scoring mechanism within the return zone, saidscoring mechanism indicating with variable value the return ofthe ballsinto the return zone by the actual player and means to feed the returnballs automatically to the projecting device including an elevatormechanism and ball return channels leading. to said elevator mechanism.

6. An amusement apparatus which comprises in combination a courtsimulating a' table tennis court, a dividing net, a ball projectingdevice, a table, means to discharge the ball from said device to bouncesaid balls on said table at a rate and with a speedto be handled by aplayer, and a score indicating mechanism in the court opposite theplayer responsive to contact by balls properly returned to said courtbythe player to indicate a score for such returns.

7. An amusement device which comprises in combination, a table tenniscourt and a ball discharging device for discharging balls-onto the courtfor bouncing action, said ball discharging device including means tothrow table tennis balls successively in controlled directions directlyonto said court, means for driving said throwing means, and meansactuated by said driving means to vary the position of said throwingmeans, whereby successive balls are discharged to difierent points onthe court, and the playing conditions of a table tennis game aresimulated.

8. An amusement device which comprises in combination, a courtsimulating a tennis court or the like and a ball discharging device fordischarging balls onto the court for bouncing action, said dischargingdevice including means to hold a plurality of balls, means to throw theballs successively directly onto the courtin controlled directions, andmeans operative between the discharge of successive balls to vary theposition of said throwing means, whereby successive balls are directedto different points on the court and the playing conditions of a tennisgame are simulated. 9. An amusement device comprising in combination, acourt, a support on one side of said court, a ball discharging devicemounted on said support for discharging balls onto the court at variouspositions in front of a player from which positions the balls bounce tobe returned by the player, said device including means to hold aplurality of balls, means to throw the balls successively directly ontothe court, means to feed the balls one by one from said holding means tosaid throwing means, driving means for said feeding and throwing means,and means actuated by said driving means for changing the position ofsaid throwing means whereby successive balls are discharged todiifer'ent points on the court, and the playing conditions of a tennisgame are simulated.

10. An amusement device which comprises in combination, a court, a balldischarging device for discharging balls to a position in the court infront of a player from which the balls bounce to be returned by theplayer, said discharging device including means to hold a plurality ofballs, 'variable speed means for propelling balls successively directlyto predeterminable positions on the court, means for transferring a ballfrom said holding means to said propelling means prior to each actuationof the latter, and means operative between successive discharges tochange the position of said propelling means whereby continually to varythe points at which the balls bounce on the court.

11. An amusement device which comprises in combination, a court, a balldischarging device for discharging balls to a position on the court 40in front of a player from which they bounce to be returned by theplayer, said discharging device including means to hold a plurality ofballs, means to release the balls one at a:time, means to engage andpropel the released balls directly 45 onto the court, variableenergizing means for said engaging and propelling means whereby todischarge the balls at selective velocities, variable speed means tocontrol the speed of operation of the device whereby the frequency ofdis- 50 charge may be varied, and means operative between successivedischarges to vary the position of said propelling means wherebysuccessive balls are discharged to different points on the court. 12. Anamusement device which comprises in 55 combination, a court, a balldischarging device for discharging balls onto the court from which theybounce to be returned by a player, said discharging device includingmeans to hold a plurality of balls, means to throw the balls suc- 60cessively directly onto the court in controlled directions, meansoperative between the discharge of successive balls to vary the positionof said throwing means whereby successive balls are directed todifferent points on the court, and a scoring mechanism for indicatingthe balls returned by the player to a scoring point.

13. In an amusement device for the solo playing of a tennis game or, thelike, the combination with a game court having an area for the receptionof properly played balls of a ball discharging device for dischargingballs successively across a portion of the court directly onto anotherportion thereof so that they are bounced adjacent a player, saiddischarging device including means for varying the points at which theballs strike the court, and means in the aforesaid area responsive tocontact by a ball when returned into said area by the player to indicatea score for such return, whereby the playing conditions of a tennis gameare simulated.

14. The combination of claim 13 wherein the last recited means comprisesa plurality of movable plates located in the court and means responsiveto movement of said plates under the impacts of returned balls toindicate the scores for such returns.

15. In a game apparatus of the class described, a ball projecting devicefor discharging balls onto a. court which comprises a hopper for aplurality of balls, a restricted conduit below said hopper, valve meansto drop the balls periodically and one at a time from said conduit, andmeans to receive and project the balls successively from said apparatuscomprising a springarm, a ball receiving cup on the outer end thereof,means to move the arm rearwardto store energy in said spring, meansactuated by contact of the arm during its rearward movement to actuatesaid valve means, and means operative after a ball has been dropped intosaid cup to release said arm to project the ball forward.

16. An amusement apparatus which comprises in combination, a courtsimulating a tennis court, a dividing net thereon, a ball projectingdevice, means to discharge balls from said device and bounce the same onsaid court at one side of said net at a rate and with a speed to behandled by a player, and a. scoring mechanism in the court opposite theplayer responsive to contact by balls returned into said court toindicate the score of the balls returned by the player to scoringpositions, said ball projecting device including an oscillatable arm, aspring connected to said arm, means to tension the spring to control thearm, means to carry a ball on said arm during discharging movementthereof. whereby to direct the ball toward a predeterminable portion ofthe table, and means to feed a ball to said carrying means prior to eachdischarging movement.

NELSON III'I'EIL. WILLIAM WENECEK.

